Red Head Goby

Elacatinus puncticulatus

Also known as Redhead Goby, Panamic Redhead Goby, Tigrigobius puncticulatus

SaltwaterFish

Red Head Goby (Elacatinus puncticulatus) — Cjarvis42 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–79°F (22–26°C)
pH: 8.1–8.4
Adult size: 2 in (5 cm)
Minimum tank: 11 gal (40 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Easy
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Common
Reef safe: Reef safe
Origin: Eastern Pacific, Gulf of California to Ecuador
Family: Gobiidae

Overview

Red head gobies are peaceful, reef safe, and well suited to nano tanks, though two males will squabble, so keep one or a pair. As a facultative cleaner it picks parasites now and then without depending on client fish, and captive-bred stock takes pellets and frozen foods readily.

In the wild

Lives on shallow rocky reefs in the eastern Pacific, from the Gulf of California down to Ecuador, usually in just 2 to 6 m of water. It shelters among the spines of slate pencil urchins and works the rock nearby for tiny crustaceans and the odd parasite.

Good to know

This is one of the few fish in the neon goby group that lives on the Pacific side of the Americas, and some references place it in the genus Tigrigobius. It reaches about 5 cm and wears its color on the head, a red to orange hood set off by fine gold and blue lines over a pale, dark-flecked body.

Did you know

In the wild this goby hides in a living fortress. When threatened it tucks itself between the spines of the slate pencil urchin Eucidaris thouarsi and waits for trouble to pass.